[evilbutterfly]

what we must remember, above all, is that this is NOT a formal setting. how we type here is not how we would type in a formal essay, a job application, or in our schoolwork. this is how we type to peers and friends. when you talk to your friends, co-workers, family, or anybody else close, you probably dont use proper grammar. "Hey man, what's up?" you may say that to your buddy, but would u go up to your boss or your teacher and say it? no. that's because one is expected to be more formal when communicating with their superiors and elders. such formalities are not needed when communicating with peers, such as we are doing here.

now, this is not to say that we should be completely lacking in the area of grammar. when speaking with friends, we do not completely disregard the basic rules of grammar. we still follow basic sentance structure, and if we speak so grammatically incorrect that people are unable to understand us, we are mocked or ignored by our peers. sure, we may use slang, but we arent completely terrible in how we speak, saying something like "asking i be how are today you now?" thus, online we should still maintain a certain level of grammar.

i am of the mind that formalities such as capitolization are not needed. if a contraction is obvious, such as dont or wont, u dont really need the apostrophe. in cases such as it's, where the meaning changes when it lacks the apostrophe, the apostrophe should always be there. sentances should not run on, but incomplete sentances are sometimes ok. paragraphs, tho a hassle for some, make large blocks of text much easier to read. even i will admit that. just now i realize that my current paragraph was too large, so i went up and pressed enter a few times after "level of grammar." it took a few extra seconds, but it saves others the trouble and eye strain of losing their place in the paragraph.

and as for abreviations, NeoDarkHeart has a good point. i use lol, lmao, and others while talking on AIM, and i find that they save quite a bit of time. however, some people vastly over use these. because they should be viewed as the person laughing, think of how annoying it can be when somebody laughs constantly. it's annoying in person, and excessive "lol"s are annoying online. also, i'm the kind of person that hates repetitive words. if i see that i've used a word a few sentences back, i make a point not to use it again until later. therefore, when talking online, i vary my laughing langage, sometimes "lol"ing while other times "hahaha"ing, with an occasional "hehe" or "tee hee hee." i see each way of laughing as a degree of laughter. only when something is REALLY funny do i bust out the "roflmao," but i see many who use this commonly. that's what pisses me off.

but yeah, that's about it. i think alot of people's ideas about grammar rules stem from their own personal strictness on following them. for example, if u look back at this post, i follow all my own guidelines. while i may not meet other's requirements, they do. thus, i believe that this arguement will never end, and that we will all continue to use the same grammar. ok, NOW i'm done [/rant]